


Heji Tal and Tea

by consideritalljoy



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen, i just needed some good old-fashioned escapism, there is no plot here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:00:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23425141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/consideritalljoy/pseuds/consideritalljoy
Summary: After seeing Obi-Wan severely injured in battle, Ahsoka decides to make up a reason to see him more often, and learns more than she expected to as a result.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 138





	Heji Tal and Tea

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion piece for chapter 6 of my other fic, [**Tell Me, Tell Me (and then tell me again)**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21830491). Basically, I needed some light, comfortable fluff, and once the image of this was in my head as a result of lines in Tell Me, this just had to be written.

Ahsoka stood in front of Master Obi-Wan’s door, bouncing on the balls of her feet. And she wasn’t often nervous. As she lifted her lightly-closed fist to knock on his door, though, her stomach definitely tingled. She cleared her throat, knocked, and called, “Master? Do you have a minute?”

“Of course, Ahsoka. Come in.” From Obi-Wan’s voice, it seemed pretty clear he’d been waiting for her. Almost like she’d been just standing there, right where he could sense her, for over a minute. The door slid open, and Ahsoka walked inside to find Obi-Wan seated in the middle of the room, legs crossed. 

All their rooms looked the same, of course, but they still all seemed very different. Ahsoka hadn’t been in his before. She’d always thought of Master Kenobi as tidy, but the small desk in the corner was piled with datapads, a few ration wrappers, old tea mugs, two shot glasses, and a bottle of something she didn’t recognize. If she hadn’t been nervous, she would have smirked. 

As it was, she just tore her gaze off the mess and back to the master. “Are you feeling better?” she asked with a smile. 

Obi-Wan looked confused for only a moment before regaining his usual composure as he stood. “I should think so, since I was finally released from medical.”

“It’s hard to meditate in there, isn’t it?” Ahsoka asked. 

“Nearly impossible,” Obi-Wan replied immediately, with almost an edge of frustration in his voice. Ahsoka nearly took it as directed at her, but that didn’t match the simple openness coming from his Force signature. No. He was still just frustrated at how long he’d spent in medical.

The silence hung for a few seconds. Ahsoka cleared her throat. “If you don’t mind, I still have those questions. I could come back another time,” she offered. 

“Oh, yes!” Obi-Wan said, eyes widening. “I’d forgotten you mentioned you’ve been learning more about heji tal. What would you like to know?”

“Well, uh…” Ahsoka fumbled with the datapad in her hands. “I made a list.” She held it out, and Master Kenobi took it and started reading. 

After more uncomfortable seconds, he spoke again, without looking up. “This is quite the intensive research. How did you have time for all this in the last few weeks?”

 _Worry is a powerful motivator_ , Ahsoka didn’t say. “Oh, you know. Skyguy just said I should be keeping up on some academics while we’re away from the front, and I guess I got carried away.”

Obi-Wan huffed and darted his eyes back up at her. “What I wouldn’t have given to hear Anakin say those words. Do you know what a nightmare it was getting him to read anything?” He shook his head, still smiling. “But you didn’t come here for me to complain about a former student.”

“No, but I’m always interested in hearing what a model student I am in comparison,” Ahsoka answered, the nervous tension beginning to slacken. 

Obi-Wan huffed good-naturedly as he looked back down and continued to read, stroking his beard. “Oh, that’s a misconception,” he muttered at last. 

“What is?” 

“Perfectly understandable,” he continued, not looking up. “You’re far from the first Jedi to think the Meditation of Emptiness is, well, empty.”

“Oh yeah. I really don't get that.” As she kept talking, the words kept coming, and the rest of the worry gave way into a more comfortable curiosity. “It’s called that, and you’re supposed to empty your mind? And it’s not like alchaka when you’re levitating things at the same time. But it’s… people talk about it like it’s still an active thing.” 

Obi-Wan nodded. “It is; that’s it’s beauty. Have you tried the form in practice at all?”

“I’ve been practicing every day for the last three weeks, or, almost. But never for very long,” she admitted. 

“You likely haven’t given heji tal any real thought since you were a youngling, have you?”

“Not really.”

“Considering the war, I’m not surprised.” His tone echoed mourning. 

Ahsoka didn’t say what she was thinking—namely, that even before the war, when she was still a youngling, she still hadn’t cared for it. But she wasn’t here for herself. Not really. “Would you practice with me?” she asked. 

Obi-Wan lifted an eyebrow as he looked back at her. “Are you sure?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Ahsoka shrugged. 

“Don’t think you need to pick up an esoteric ritual to make me feel better,” Obi-Wan pressed. “I’m doing quite well. I only have a few more mandated medical scans before I’m fully cleared.”

Ahsoka grinned and cocked her head a little to one side. “Well, what if I said I started looking into it because I know you like it so much, and then I started to think maybe it’s better than Skyguy and I gave it credit for? How about that?”

“If you say so.”

“Well I do say so, so let’s get started.” Ahsoka sank into a meditative stance in the middle of Obi-Wan’s floor, and closed her eyes. A second later, she glanced up, and opened one halfway to see him still looking down on her. She pursed her lips. “You doing this with me or not?”

“I’m happy to show you as long as you’re interested,” Obi-Wan said, sitting down next to her. 

Ahsoka snuck another glance. She couldn’t help it. Obi-Wan was sitting there looking completely at peace, like his spirit had totally left the _Negotiator_ and was off in the realm of the Force. And it had only been a few seconds. 

He started speaking, and Ahsoka quickly shut her eyes again. “Now, especially for a learner, the best way to begin the process is by choosing a single thing to center your thoughts on. Eventually, that crutch will fade away, but for the moment, choose something that grounds you. Some like to think of their kyber crystal, as they equate that with the intersection of the Force and themselves. Some choose something like a plant.”

Ahsoka remembered when she’d gone to Ilum and found her crystal. She’s been a little surprised to find that it was green—people said blue was more for the physical side of the Force, and that was certainly more her specialty. Green was equated more with the Living Force. But over time, she’d started to learn why the Force chose green for her. Obi-Wan was right—the crystal _was_ like a physical bond between herself and the Force. 

She pictured the crystal clearly in her mind’s eye. “Got it,” she said. 

“Alright, Ahsoka. Now, consider every detail of that object. Let it sink in. Let your thoughts focus only on that one thing. Each time your mind begins to wander, draw it back to that object.”

“For how long?”

She didn’t need to open her eyes to hear the smirk in his voice. “A while.” 

Ahsoka waited for the next instruction. Obi-Wan was silent. Ahsoka remained poised, patiently waiting for the master to be ready. Seconds passed. Or was it minutes? She gave in. Ahsoka looked back again. 

Obi-Wan definitely didn’t look like he intended to give any more instructions. He was back in that Force-realm, off somewhere Ahsoka had probably never been. You know, sometimes she almost thought she understood the Force. Foolish, really. 

She closed her eyes and concentrated. Green. Ilum. Last time she was on Ilum, pirates had attacked the group of younglings she was leading there. How was Hondo doing now, anyway?

Blast, distracted again. She breathed. Green. Ilum. The crystal. Its sharp edges, its smooth sides. How many times she’d remade the hilt. Anakin had probably made his perfectly the first time. Obi-Wan too, Ahsoka was willing to bet. 

Still not focused. Refocus. How long had it been? Gritting her teeth, Ahsoka resolved to try again. 

It took a while. It took a long while. Eventually, though, the edges of Ahsoka’s vision blurred a little. She felt warm, but not in a bodily sense. She could get lost in that feeling, she thought. 

So she did. 

She didn’t know how much time passed before she sensed Obi-Wan’s Force signature next to her again, nudging her back out, leading her back to the physical world. A part of her was sad to be going. 

Even the process back out of the deeper meditative state was long, and meandering, in some ways. The farther along they went, and the more Ahsoka regained a solid sense of her own body, the more distinctly she could sense Obi-Wan beside her. 

His excitement was exceptionally well contained. Ahsoka wasn’t really surprised—this was, after all, the legendary Obi-Wan Kenobi. What surprised her more was how low his mental shields were right then. Jedi usually maintained a pretty high wall between their minds and anyone else, for privacy’s sake, and to hide improper emotions. Her grandmaster usually kept them pretty high up. 

Now, though, they were lower than Ahsoka remembered seeing them. And he was… excited. Ecstatic, almost. 

Ahsoka suppressed a smirk. She lowered her own shields further than she usually did around Obi-Wan and sent her appreciation and enjoyment back through the Force. When she got a wave of spiked glee from him in response, she couldn’t help but smile. 

“Skyguy’s really missed out all these years,” she whispered. 

Obi-Wan’s reply came back nearly as quiet. “He has other interests.”

“He’s still missing out,” she repeated. And definitely not just on the meditation technique. 

“Did you find that helpful at all?” Obi-Wan asked. 

Ahsoka grinned and looked to him. “That felt like the first time I ever really got the hang of it. I’m not even sure I knew what I was looking for before.”

“I’m glad, then.” Obi-Wan stood. “If you have any more time to spend on this old master-”

“You’re not old, and always.”

She earned a small smirk for that. “I’m always in the mood for tea after a session like that. Care for some?”

Ahsoka pretended to think it over. “Only if you use the stuff from Alderaan.”

“Only the best for a fellow connoisseur,” Obi-Wan replied, already turning around to brew the tea. 

“How’d you do it?” she asked with a grin. “How’d you go ten long years without a padawan who liked the right kinds of tea?” 

Obi-Wan didn’t turn around, but Ahsoka felt his prickling of amusement in the Force. “Stronger tea.”

Ahsoka only had time to scrunch her face up in confusion for a second before he pointed to the bottle on the desk, and she got the joke. She giggled. “He doesn’t seem to like that stuff much, either.” 

“No, but after a few of them myself, I don’t mind so much,” came the reply. 

“It’s a good thing I came along in time to curb these destructive habits of yours.”

“My dear Ahsoka,” he said, holding up a shot glass and tossing his head back like it had been full, “who ever said you came in time?” 

The tea brewed, Obi-Wan poured two cups and turned back around, handing one to Ahsoka, and then sitting at the desk chair. He gestured to the bed, which Ahsoka gingerly sat on while she took her first sip. 

“In all seriousness, I do appreciate you coming over,” Obi-Wan told her. “There really aren’t many I can talk about these things to, especially with the war on, now that everyone is constantly away from Coruscant.”

“It was my pleasure. Really. I was serious about learning so much. And learning wasn’t the only reason I came.”

“So you _were_ trying to make me feel better.”

She blushed. “Maybe a little, at first. Only kind of! It was more like, well…” she trailed off. Words like these were always harder to say than she thought they’d be. “More like, when I saw Master Skywalker bring you to the _Resolute_ after that bomb, I realized how… how much my training is influenced by both of you. And I guess I wanted an excuse to come talk to you more.”

Obi-Wan looked at her until the humor was replaced by sincerity. “You didn’t need an excuse,” he told her. 

She nearly blushed again, but recovered with a chuckle. “Maybe not, but I’m glad I made one up. I’m going to keep practicing.”

“I wouldn’t mind practicing with you more often,” Obi-Wan offered. 

Ahsoka smiled as she took another sip. “That’d be great.”

As she sent waves of gratitude toward him in the Force, she was met by equal amounts from him. Neither of them looked the other in the eye, but both revelled in the silence.

**Author's Note:**

> (Yes, I know it's not called Heji Tal until Luke tweaks it, and that name is Legends now anyway... but... it's such a cool name... so I'm calling it artistic license and rolling with it.)


End file.
